On Constitutional Obligation and Disobedience: A Symposium on Abner Greene’s Against Obligation & Michael Seidman’s On Constitutional Disobedience

Boston University School of Law is pleased to continue its series of symposia on significant recent books in law. The distinctive format is to pick two significant books that join issue on an important topic, to invite the author of each book to write an essay on the other book, and to invite several BU faculty to write an essay on one or both books. We then publish the pieces in Boston University Law Review.

The symposium will pair Abner S. Greene’s new book, Against Obligation: The Multiple Sources of Authority in a Liberal Democracy (Harvard University Press, 2012), and Louis Michael Seidman’s forthcoming book, On Constitutional Disobedience(Oxford University Press). Symposium speakers will include Professors Greene and Seidman as well as BU Law Professors Hugh Baxter, Khiara Bridges, James Fleming, Gary Lawson, David Lyons, Linda McClain and Jay Wexler.

Abner S. Greene is Leonard F. Manning Professor at Fordham University School of Law. He is the author of not only Against Obligation but also Understanding the 2000 Election: A Guide to the Legal Battles That Decided the Presidency (New York University Press, 2001).

Louis Michael Seidman is Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University Law Center. He is also the author of Our Unsettled Constitution: A New Defense of Constitutionalism and Judicial Review (Yale University Press, 2001) and Silence and Freedom (Stanford University Press, 2007).

Papers and proceedings were published in the Boston University Law Review in the July 2013 issue.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Book Symposium (BU Law, Barristers Hall, 12:50-6:00 p.m.)

• Welcome: Dean Maureen O’Rourke, BU School of Law

• Introduction: Professor and Associate Dean James E. Fleming, BU School of Law

• Panel 1 (12:50 – 2:00 p.m.)
  • Abner Greene, Fordham University School of Law
  • Michael Seidman, Georgetown University Law Center

• Panel 2 (2:15 – 3:30 p.m.)
  • Khiara Bridges, BU School of Law
  • James Fleming, BU School of Law
  • Gary Lawson, BU School of Law

• Panel 3 (3:45 – 4:45 p.m.)
  • Linda McClain, BU School of Law
  • Jay Wexler, BU School of Law

• Panel 4 (5:00 – 6:00 p.m.)
  • Hugh Baxter, BU School of Law and Department of Philosophy
  • David Lyons, BU School of Law and Department of Philosophy